Sometimes (maybe even too often) when we come to worship, we have come looking for an emotional experience… some aspect of having a specific feeling. Is that what worship is supposed to do – to give us an emotional high? Are you coming to worship in an attempt to have your heart-strings pulled?
Alistair Begg discusses his thoughts about those who say to him something along the lines of: “I’m just trying to get the feeling again.”
…I meet with people every week who think this is the answer to their spiritual impoverishment – if only they could get the feeling again.
…If you come to church on a Sunday for the feeling, I guarantee you that 9 Sundays out of 10, you’re going to go away disappointed. We have to acknowledge that we come to worship on the Lord’s Day in all kinds of conditions of heart & life.
…If you came hoping for your favorite instruments to get the feeling back again, then you might be disappointed; If you came hoping to sing your five favorite songs, you might be disappointed; If you came for anything other than truth to transform, then you may wait for a long time. And only the truth transforms and stays, because the feeling goes as the music dies.
When you attend worship with your church family, is it to experience some elusive emotion or feeling again, or is it to meet with God’s people as a family and hear the truth that has the power to transform your life? As we grow in our maturity, we should realize that our primary concern in worship should not be to have our emotions stirred, but for us to better know the truth of God’s Word. And what we will find is that if we better know God’s Word and embrace the truths there, then worship will automatically affect our emotions because we will be in awe at the grace of Jesus to rescue sinners like us. God’s truth is sufficient to impact us powerfully and to transform our lives.
.